Hoenn Is Where The Start Is!
by TheSilverDragoon
Summary: (HIWTSI) Gary has the upper hand from the start, what if Ash goes to Hoenn, to try and beat Gary later, with his new friends and Pikachu, a lot of suprising things happen. Advanceshiping, Rated T
1. Hoenn Is Where The Start Is

Hoenn Is Where The Start Is.

"Speech" 'thoughts' _emphasis/flashback_

I understand that A ten year old boy and girl wouldnt fall in love, and im trying to adapt my story to that, but pretend they can as they starting a journey is the plot, its too big to change :( so sorry if this seems unrealistic, but if i kept friendship up for 3-5 years of their life, the story would drag with no real reason. well, enjoy! :)

Chapter 1- Ashs Beggining

Tomorrow. For some an ordinary day. But for others, an exciting adventure is about to begin when they meet Pocket Monsters, commonly know, as Pokemon. At the age of ten, children can start a journey with these amazing creatures to fight, bond and share experiences together in the huge world, in which they can explore.

One of these people, is Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town.

He is currently asleep.

Ash is finally able to get a pokemon from the proffesor from his region; Kanto. His name is Proffessor S. Oak. Ash's options of pokemon are Bulbasaur- a grass type, Squirtle- a water type and charmander- a fire type. Who are also like Ash, waiting to explore in the world when chosen by a human.

Ash lives in Pallet Town with his mother; Delia, and her pokemon Mr. Mime which is refered to, as Mimey.

Ash finally woke up from his slumber at around 11:05am.

"Uh-oh, I slept in.." Ash noted. Ash climbs out of his bed, through the bedroom door, speeds down the wooden stairs, grabs his bag and slings one of the green backpack straps around his shoulder and is out the main door of his home before eating his breakfast. Or changing his Sleeping wear.

He runs up the slightly curved concrete stairs leading to the professors laboratory on a grass hill. He reaches the door and knocks. After a few moments of Ash impatiently waiting he is invited inside.

"Hi professor, I can get my pokemon now, right?" Ash asks excitedly.

"Ok Ash, Follow me" Pr. Oak instructed.

Ash follows Pr. Oak and walks into one of the Rooms where the machine for selecting pokemon was placed and the storage of the pokeballs which are on the ranch outside. The room was a large size with many pokemon transporting machines for other trainers to easily access their pokemon from the proffessor.

In the middle was where Ash needed to be, there were 3 red and white pokeballs on the machine, this is where Ashs final decision will be made. Who would he start his journey with?

On the machine were three pokeballs. Ash continues looking at the pokeballs with a troubled look.

"Well, ive given it a lot of thought, and ive decided. That I choose Squirtle!" Ash announced joyfully. He opens the pokeball. And out appears...nothing!?

"Sorry Ash, Gary decided to take Squirtle as his partner, he took him quite a while ago." Pr. Oak explains to Ash, informing him that squirtle will be unable to be Ashs partner pokemon.

'So... Gary went for squirtle, I guess thats a good choice, so who should I choose? Bulbasaur or charmander? Hmm...' Ash stayed in this thoughts for a few minutes with Pr. Oak smiling in understanding to the situation.

"Ok then Professor, I choose Bulbasaur" Ash says as he throws the pokeball which contains the same as Squirtles pokeball. "Huh, was Bulbasaur also chosen?" Ash questions.

"Your correct Ash, some one who didnt oversleep took this pokemon to start his journey with." Pr. Oak replies.

"Thats fine, because I choose Charmander!" Ash quickly says. " Its not taken too is it?"

"Im Afraid so Ash, all three pokemon were taken by aspiring pokemon trainers who got here on time." Pr. Oak stated. Ash stands there shocked.

"So, what pokemon can I have? I'll have anything professor!" Ash begs as he joins his hands together almost on his knees begging to be able to start his journey. Ash new he needed one pokemon, anything, to start with to then be able to be a pokemon trainer and have an adventure into the unknown past his limits of Pallet town.

"Calm down Ash, there is one left but its-" Pr. Oak gets interupted by the pokemon trainer to be.

" Thats great Professor! I will take good care of it." Exclaims Ash, desperatly needing the pokemon inside that pokeball.

"I guess thats fine, its a bit tricky to get to work with as it isnt a type we ussually give as an option.. but if your willing to theres no issue." Pr. Oak says whilst calling him to a table. "Ash, this is pikachu- the electric mouse pokemon."

Ash stares in amazement as Pr. Oak calls pikachu out of his pokeball and is materializing in the white light, moments away from showing its appearance to them both.

And out appears ash's future best friend and partner, Pikachu.

Pikachu, an underestimated pokemon with many good attacks, a bright yellow colour and a thunderbolt looking tail and red cheek pouches.

It sniffs around and focuses on its surroundings, not suspected a young trainer to have crushed it in ashs arms.

"Oh wow! Hes amazing professor thankyou" Ash spoke, rather loudly getting caught up in the excitement of being able to start his own pokemon journey. Pikachu however, disagreed with him on being carried and the trainer half screaming. And it showed as he unleashed his thundershock for self defense.

"H-he su-ure is stro-ong..." Ash states being overwhelmed by the electric attack his partner just gave him. "C'mon pikachu, we are supposed to be friends, we are going to travel and be the best there is!" Ash continues from slightly recovering. Luckily pikachu was still a young pokemon with low attack strength, or that would've really hurt him if otherwise.

"Well Ash, here is his pokeball and your kanto region pokedex and five pokeballs for you to catch pokemon with" Pr. Oak informs.

Ring-ring Ring-ring Phone call Phone- call.

"Hi gramps, im almost at Pewter City now (Gary having the red sports car to travel in) about to get my first gym badge- oh hey _Ashy-boy _how have you been" Gary spoke through the phone as he snickered, putting emphasis on the nick name Ash got fustrated at.

"Ah, good work Gary, you will have all eight in no time if you keep up this pace." Replies Pr. Oak.

"Oh I need to get going, I have the gym challenge today. And Ash remember to travel outside your pyjamas, these a thing called casual clothing." Gary laughs at the comment as he cuts the connection. Ash balled his fists trying to keep his cool against his childhood rival.

'If Gary already has almost One gym badge, im already behind, and he already has hours of extra training which I havent got... i might not beat him in the pokemon league. If I go to another place first and train, ill be stronger before I face Gary!' Ash thinks.

"Professor, is there other regions apart from the kanto league to enter in?" Ash asks.

Confused at his question to go somewhere else, he answers anyway "Well yes, theres the Hoenn and Johto leagues whch have the same rules and regulations as Kanto."

"Then sir i'd like to have a Hoenn pokedex please..Thats where ill head first." Ash says with his decision made final.

"Very well Ash, theres no stopping you is there?" Says Pr. Oak " Of you go then Ash let your journey be one of experience and adventure, including fun of course."

"I wont professor thanks for all your help, lets go pikachu!" Ash calls pikachu to its pokeball, calling the word 'return'. Pikachu sidesteps causing the pokeball to not recall him.

Ash bends down to his level to speak to him. "If you dont like the pokeball, want to walk outside?" Ash questions his electric friend. Pikachu agrees to this and walks slowly behind him as they leave Pr. Oaks lab and head back home. As much as Ash hates giving Gary the upper hand, traveling is meant for casual clothing, not his pj's.

"Well here we are pikachu, this is my house." Ash thinks for a few moments. "Its your home too now pikachu.

Pikachu smiles at the energetic trainer and follows it into the small house in the centre of Pallet Town.

As Ash gets changed he remembered what Professor Oak told him.

_Remember Ash this pokemon may be a bit stubborn at first. But you are both new to the traveling and should soon be helping eachother. This Pikachu will be your partner and as a pokemon he will help you battle. He Knows only tackle and thundershock right now, so good luck with training him into a fine battler._

With the flashback over, Ash has a smile brought to his face knowing that Pr. Oak has some confidence in him to do well. 'Alright then.. guess its time to say goodbye to Kanto for now, i better say bye to mum before i go' "Pikachu! We are about to leave now" He yelled to wherever the partner pokemon was. He heard a faint 'Pika' response from His new friend from upstairs.

Now geared and ready to leave, the young trainer has finally got to say goodbye to his mother. They both know it will take a while to get used to and both also know its for the best.

"Well goodbye, Ill try keep in touch with ya over the journey in Hoenn. Bye to you too Mimey, take care of mum for me." He said as he walked slowly and waved back to the house. And with pikachu, Walking by his side, they set of to the small port in Pallet Town to get a boat to take them to their destination. Where they will start their own tale together with new experiences.

"Pika?" Pikachu Squeked.

"Whats up pikachu? We are going on a boat, thats ok right?" Ash asked, hoping Pikachu was okay on boats. As after all, they were walking to a pier, where they could be on a boat for several hours, maybe even longer.

'Electric types are fine against water, aren't they? Is he afraid of boats?' Ash continued in his train of thought, trying to remember what Pr. Oak said about pikachu. Ashs eyes grew slightly in remembering.

'How could i forget! Pikachu is young, he may have not been on a boat before, what should i say to cheer him up a bit?' Ash tugs on his hat trying to think.

Pikachu looks at him confusingly. Ash notices his confused behaviour.

Ash tries to explain to his friend what a boat is, so far sitting on a bench at the port waiting for a boat wasnt helping.

"I know, ill show you what one of them looks like!" Ash feels better knowing he can slightly help his nervous mouse pokemon. As they walk up to a medium sized boat close to the pier. Ash points to it and starts saying very... basic detail on what a boat was.

"A boat helps take you across the sea, its impossible to swim that distance, so these help a lot to traveling trainers like us!" Ash explained. Pikachu understood what it did and seemed glad that it wasnt going to worry him anymore.

As the boat Ash and pikachu needed started to dock and prepare for passengers to board, the place became crowded with all sorts of people and pokemon.

There was a notice from a megaphone given out. 'Please return all big pokemon to your pokeballs and keep other pokemon with you at all times, we aren't responsible for losing your pokemon.'

"pikachu, come on my shoulder, I wont lose you that way, i could walk on ahead without noticing otherwise, and your my first pokemon and a good friend of mine now, so hop on and lets get ready to go to Hoenn." Ash states excitedly, waiting to set sail over the clear blue sea.

"Pika, pikachu!" it replied cheerfully as he is now perched on Ash's shoulder.

"Ok then lets go, don't want them to leave without us, right buddy?" He laughed.

Pikachu joined in the laughter as they boarded the boat.

Meanwhile in Hoenn, a girl is already awake waiting for an hours time to come face to face with a pokemon; her first. This girls name is the May Maple, daughter of Norman, the Petalburg City gym leader.


	2. Sibling Friendship

A/N Characters may seem out of character, buts its necessary for the plot, ill try make them as natural as possile though, so read, and enjoy!

**Chapter two - Sibling Friendship**

_Meanwhile in Hoenn, a girl is already awake waiting for an hours time to come face to face with a pokemon; her first. This girls name is the May Maple, daughter of Norman, the Petalburg City gym leader._

"So cmon May, tell us who your choosing as your partner" Naged Max.

Max is Mays younger Brother who is waiting one more year before he will be in that position. The Pokemon available from each different vary, in Hoenn there are Mudkip- a water type, treecko- a grass type, or torchic- the fire type.

" Well Max, im not quite sure, I dont really want one at all, but I want to travel around and see new places. So if dad wants me to get one to travel, I will." She explained.

Max gasped. "Really!? You dont even want to become a trainer? It would be really fun."

"Not really, id have no one to travel with and no inspiration to train pokemon, I understand that dads a gym leader, but all he does is stay in one place, that doesnt seem very fun to me Max, and im sorry I dont have the same opinion"

She tried to sympathise to him. She knew he was really happy for her to be able to become a trainer.

_'Max seems really upset, maybe... just maybe I should do it for him?' _She pondered.

" I know Max, ill go to Littleroot Town and get a look at the Pokemon in his labratory, and if theres one I like, ill get it and become a trainer." She announced.

He looked at her unconvincingly. The room then went silent, and neither of them wanted to brake it, but then again, both were in deep thought about what was going on. Being a pokemon trainer or not changes experiences of peoples lives. It wasnt something that could change in a matter of seconds. Max knew that and thats why he didnt say anything.

After a few minutes, Caroline, May and Max's mother called May for a final check that she has everything before getting her pokemon. And just as May was about to leave Max to see her mother, Max called to her.

"Ill make you a deal may, im not sure if your going to get a pokemon or not and could use it as an excuse to travel, I want to see if you keep your word on the pokemon training, so let me go with you! Please..." Max begged " I'd love to see all the pokemon out there in the world, it will help me before I even become a trainer."

May continued to walk out the door slowly just outside the room. " Im coming mum"

Max saw her turn and walk away. He put his head down. And tried once more to persuade her to let him see the world too. "Please...May..."

May stopped.

She turned around to look at her younger brother, the one brother that would try and act smug, and smart. He was very upset, eyes slowly watering, and that hurt her to see deeply. So she turned back to him.

"Alright Max, lets go say hello to the world." She encouraged.

Max looked up to see if she was serious. She was. The usual smile on his face was there once again as he ran up to her and hugged her waist. He continued thanking her and showering compliments such as "your the best sister ever!" until they were both standing on their doorstep of the Gym/home they have been raised in for their entire life, and for a few days, it would be just the siblings on their own.

Norman was a protective man over his children and made sure they were 100% prepared for the trip.

"Now have you got your-" Norman advised.

"For the final time yes! Me and Max have been waiting for this day for quite a while, even though I wasnt expecting Max to want to tag along but im happy for him being able to come." May explains to her father, seeming to not get the point that the children are ready to start a journey.

"Wait what? Max is going with you!?" Exclaimed both parents.

"Didnt Max tell you?" replied May, who suddenly had a worried look on her face.

'Max didnt tell mum or dad? What was he thinking!? Him suddenly leaving would make them upset, whats he up to? I'd better ask him I guess' May focused on the scene around her.

"Hey May, im ready to g- uh-oh" Said Max worredly as he came down the stairs with his bag set to go. May could tell Max didnt want them knowing.

'Poor Max, he knows he wont let them go, he can't even get a pokemon yet...'. May decides to step in for her brother, she wants him with her.

"Please mum, it would be nice to have some company on my travels with my pokemon."

Max let out a small gasp. 'So she is serious about getting a pokemon, I wish I believed her earlier, I feel bad for judging her like that, I need to leave the house, and try help as much as I can, as a little brother.'

"But honey, Max cant even get a pokemon yet, if he goes around the Hoenn region now, he wont explore when his time comes for him next year." Says Caroline, determined to keep her smallest child at home.

'What do I say back to that? Im sorry Max...' May puts her head down in defeat. "Alright then, I see your point." May turns to max next.

"Im sorry Max, I really am, it wouldve been nice to spend some time with you, we really got on well today since all our arguing recently. Im sorry I couldnt help you Max. Im sorry I couldnt help your dreams come true!" May ends with a yell. She then leaves the door and slams it shut, which Caroline could tell was aimed at her not Max.

After that commotion - and his older sisters yelling and door slam - Max had ran upstairs to his room, crying.

Norman then looked to is wife. "What have we done..." He whispers and slowly it trailes of into a silence.

Max was looking at the posters in his room of the three starter pokemon, going back to his usual routine of dreaming of what could happen. But after his earlier experience with is parents, and May now gone. He had no-one to talk to about what happened. So he left his room and sighed as he slowly walked down the stairs. Until he noticed his bag by the front door.

He had a few moments to be able to work out his very simple plan.

'All I have to do is grab the bag, pull the door handle and catch up to May.' He smirked 'This will be e-a-s-y.'

So the adrenaline kicked in, skipping some steps with the speed and momentum, grabbed the ba-

He feels his bag strap slide past his fingers...

'No-no-no-no-no! how did I miss that' He thought as he stops himself just before the door bagless.

"Why were you running down the stairs Max?" Asks Norman impatiently.

"I, er, well I...you see... haha, funny right?" Says Max. 'Out of all times why do I stutter now!'

"Max, dont think about leaving this house." Norman replies angrily, yet partly shocked that his youngest child would try run away from him.

"Well if you let me go we wouldnt be having this conversation!" Max exclaims. Max was too angry and wasnt thinking straight, focusing on yelling back at his dad.

"So thats what this is about? No need to be impatient Ma-"

Max just yelled, no words, just a really loud screech.

Norman covers his years and closes his eyes and tries to endure the high volumed scream.

But in allthe noise. Max made his escape, he graps his back, which he places over his shoulder. Then opens the door at a fast speed, and ran from the Maple household.

"Max, what. Whered you go?" Norman says shocked as a bag has gone missing, the doors wide open, and Max is no were to be seen.

Norman takes a step back, registering whats just happened.

"Caroline! Come here quickly." Slowly losing volume in his voice.

As Caroline enters, her curiosity continues to increase.

" Sorry, I was in the garden, its hard to hear you from out there, why did you leave the front door open?" She questions as she closes the door slowly.

"M-Max, he just left, he ran away, probably finding May" He chokes out, barely audible.

But she heard him. And she was furious.

"What! How dear he do that, we have rules in this house." She says angrily but clearly upset about the news.

"Lets let them do it honey, he wouldnt run if he wasnt serious, i guess its time to trust our kids, they are growing up."

She sighed, knowing she wont win this conversation against Norman.

"But if they return, im telling them what they did and how its wrong. A lesson needs to be learnt from all of this." She Informs.

Meanwhile, at Littleroot Dock

Littleroots dock, a small harbour with a few boats able to board and disembark passengers. It has wooden piers leading to boats and a small concrete layer where the ticket seller is. Due to the small harbour, it is kept tidy to look its best with many trainers water pokemon allowed to swim in certain zones so they dont get injured by the boats.

And on one of these boats, preparing to start in the Hoenn region, is Ash ketchum.

"So Pikachu, what did you think?" Ash asks hopefully.

Pikachu nods his head in confirmation of his partners question. And smells the new air, and trying to adapt to the cooler climate.

"Wow, its colder here, its probably close to winter as it was summer in Kanto." Ash explains.

The trainer now walks around lost through the small pier, trying to find an exit of some kind, a path to littleroots town centre.

"Escuse me sir, we are here from the Kanto region. Can you tell me how to get to littleroot?"

The officer turns around to see them and replies.

"Sure, if you go past the booth, follow the path opposite that and it should be a straight road, please be aware that littleroot town does not have a pokemon centre, so avoid some battles."

"Ok, thankyou for your help, say thankyou Pikachu" Ash advises

"Pika pi" He states with a smile on his face.

The officer waves goodbye as they head down the small path.

After a few minutes, the houses of littleroot begin to appear.

"Hey pikachu, lets go, race you there!" He screams with enthusiasm evidently in his voice as he picks up speed towards the small town. Pikachu jumps from his trainers shoulder and makes his own way

'How dare she not let Max come with me! We were finally getting along! We couldve supported eachother... Dont worry about me though Max, ill be the best out there and train my pokemon to the best of their ability and more!'

She smiles at her thoughts and starts jogging through oldale town down the field to littleroot town, with the main destination of Proffesor Birchs Laboratory.

What she didnt know however was Max slowly entering oldale town, out of breath from his long escape from home.

'Please let May be here.' Looking desperatly for his older sibling. He goes to the pokemon centre to try and find her. Once he enters the building, he sees many pokemon, mainly the basics: Zigzagoon, Tailow, Shroomish and Whismur.

'Uh-oh, I still gotta find May, she isnt here... where could she be' Max leaves the pokemon centre and continues to look around town, before running down the small field and path to where May could possibly be.

May finally reaches the little town, after a few deep breaths to regulate her breath.

After walking a small way she looks up to notice a large, white bricked building, and assuming its the famous Proffesor Birchs lab, knocks on the door and waits for a few moments.

"Ah hello, you must be May, im Pr. Birch, you are here for your pokemon, correct?" He asks politely.

"Oh, yes, im May and here for my pokemon" She confirms.

Pr. Birch stands aside and allows May into the building. She steps onto the tiled flooring and analyses the room. She notices a few desks with scattered paper and a few neat piles of paperwork, and some pokeballs on, what looks like, a circular transporter machine.

As Pr. Birch navigates May to the odd machine, she looks at the three pokeballs in the machine behind a glass shield, whilst Pr. Birch presses a button on the machine to allow the glass to retreat into the lower part of the contraption, May is looking at the pokeballs, she comes to a conclusion that the pokeballs are identical, but she was more interested in the pokemon inside.

"Well then May, its time for your decision". Pr. Birch explains as he releases a mudkip from its pokeball, "This, as you may know, is mudkip, a water type pokemon".

After a momentary stare, and an inspection on the mud-fish pokemon...

"No thanks, id like to see what other ones you have please" Says May, trying to make that sentence sound polite without offending the young starter.

"Very well, the next one is Torchic, a fire type pokemon".

Torchic is released by Pr. Birch. The small fire chicken shakes slightly, and tilts it's head in confusion to the situation.

Mays eyes glow and sparkle. She bends down to get a closer look at the pokemon, and torchic doesnt wait to be welcomed into a hug by the human. After a few moments, Mays mind has been made.

"Sir, i'd like to travel around with this little cutie, Torchic" May concludes.

Pr. Birch nods knowingly as to why she picked it, and allows her with her pokemon. In addition, May is given her pokedex and 5 pokeballs - excluding Torchics- to be able to have a full team.

And with the final goodbye as May leaves the With a new torchic in arms, May sets of to the fields between Littleroot and Oldale, just to the right of the main path linking the towns, the point of going there? To talk to her new friend.

Mays Pokemon Journey begins!


	3. Trust Appears

Review answers -

At the moment, Brendan wasnt in my storyline plans, i dont know much about his character, also adding him wouldnt seem right in the story, ill see if i can add him in further on in the story though, and thanks for the review :)

To people saying about grammer, wording, and structure: Ive had a few reviews about this, and i thankyou for pointing out the errors in the stories, i will eventually go back to improve them and try make the story flow easier, thanks for the reviews (if it doesnt seem to improve, then i cant see my mistakes - sorry.)

Chapter 3 - Trust appears.

"Oh wow, whats that pokemon?" Max exclaims as a yellow pokemon runs towards his direction.

As the unknown pokemon runs towards him, Max calls it over by whistling. Of course not all pokemon are naive, but it seemed to trust the friendly 9 year old boy.

"Are you lost?" Max asks his new companion.

Unknown by Max, the pikachu looks around trying to find his new traveling partner. But no avail. Pikachu looks down. He knows he is lost...

Max notices the sad expression, and strokes the top of his head, whilst saying "Hey, lets walk around town, and if you see him, show me and ill give you back, ok? Lets go!" And as enthusiastically as that was said, was put into his running as he speeds of into the main part of the town of little root.

What could be seen, by many residents and passer-bys, was a sad 10 year old boy, with his cap covering his eyes, and under close inspection, his friends and family would call him by his name, Ash. Many people with confused expressions as to why he was feeling like this are caused by many things which are worrying the pre-teen.

Firstly, he is extremely far away from home, its a mild temperature, but just barable. And the most affecting, in his race of the boat, he and pikachu, amongst the many that were aboard the ship, got seperated. The sad boy was close to tears.

But what he doesnt know yet, is that his friend, with another boy, are going in his direction.

"Pika! Pikachu, pi!

(translations will not be put in, it will ussually be obvious what they are saying, if not i apologise, and if you want them, tell me and ill update my chapters ^_^ ).

"Oh, you see him? Where is he? The one with the hat? The guy running? You gotta be more clear!" Says max, annoyed that he cant understand the pokemons language.

Pikachu, clearly unimpressed with the human unable to locate his trainer, jumps from Max's arms and dodging people to meet his journey companion after their little trip. After his little fear of boats,and Ash helping him, the two became quite good friends over the multiple hour trip to hoenn.

Ash felt a weight on his shoulder. He turns and looks at what it could possibly be, and he finds his partner, smiling at him, knowing they are both thinking the same thing.

"Your here!/Pika!" Both pokemon and trainer said, overjoyed at their new re-union. And Ash takes pikachu from his shoulder, and gives him a hug after the stressful moments without anyone by his side.

Speaking about people, Max finds his way to them and introduces himself to the Newbie trainer. He sticks out his hand to Ash.

"Hi, im Max, I was with your pokemon trying to help him find you" Max explains to the re-united trainer.

"Oh wow, im really grateful for you finding my pikachu" The trainer replies.

'So its a pikachu, never heard of that pokemon before, it could be rare.' Max thought.

Ash meets Max's hand with his own in a handshake. They both smile and head down a path to Oldale town, where Ash, Pikachu, and of course Max, are starting to meet a pokemon centre, where rest is slowly becoming a need for the three of them.

As they venture down the path, just outside littleroot..

"So Ash, where you headed? You going around Hoenn?" Max asks.

"Well, so far thats the plan, seeing what I should do, meet some friends and go around exploring, and make my pokemon stronger." Ash replies, thinking a bit more about where to go next.

"Oh wait!" Max quickly exclaims. "Have you seen my sister? She wears a red bandana, black shorts and a red and white blouse with matching shoes."

Ash thinks bad throughout his time in littleroot.

"Erm, no, im sorry, I cant remember seeing someone like that, but for getting me and pikachu together again, ill help you find her, whats the name?" Ash asks curiously

"Oh, her name is May, May Maple, she just got her pokemon today, and I cant find her!" Max states, fed up with searching for a longer ammount of time than he hoped.

Ash looking aroud the path, noticing that the terrain is about to change.

'Grass? A field of some kind... I dont think this is the right path, but maybe ill find some cool pokemon this way'

"Hey thats her! Hey May! Over here!" Max jumps exitedly, finally meeting her sister. "Cmon Ash, ill introduce you"

"Ok, im coming, get a move on Pikachu"Ash says, chuckling at Pikachus new expression after being called slow. And with that, Pikachu dashes of ahead to greet the female.

"Oh, aren't you a cute pokemon." May says, looking at the yellow mouse pokemon.

'I wonder what you are, I'd better check my pokedex' She thinks as the pink pokedex is being taken from her bag.

Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. It can generate electric attacks from the electric pouches located in both of its cheeks.

"Oh, so your a pikachu, thats the first one i've seen." May tells him.

"Yeah I thought so too, ive never seen one either" Says a new voice, yet familiar.

May looks up. To see a boy running at her with a huge smile. He has glasses, and green and black clothing. Her eyes go wide in shock and joy. That boy...

'Is Max!' She thought, overjoyed that she has met back up with him.

Ash notices what will happen, and decides to give them some space to relax by himself about 10 metres away, relaxing by himself looking up at the clouds.

'I have no need to be there, i'll let them have their moment.' Ash thought, containing no motive to interupt them both.

"May, I finally found you, I was getting worried, that maybe you had already left and trave-" Max says, but is interupted by Mays embrace.

Max accepts the hug and is pleased that he has had his re-union with his new travelling partner.

"Dont worry Max, I would've waited for you we are traveliing together, just the two of us, well 3 of us now, wouldn't you say so,well? Torchic?" May states as the fire chicken appears from behind May.

With his eyes wide, he escapes his sisters hug to pick up his sisters starter pokemon.

"So just the three of us - wait, can we have another 2 join us?" Max asks expectantly

'Oh, hes talking about us, I better make my introduction'. Ash thought.

Ash Makes his way over to the duo.

"Wait five? Isnt our group getting big now? Wernt we travelling together?" May asks.

Ash makes his way over and sits next to Max.

"Hello May, Im Ash, from Pallet town, and this is my partner, Pikachu" Ash spoke, introducing him and gesturing to the yellow pokemon May had seen a few moments ago.

"Pika!"

"Oh hello, I guess Max told you about me?" May answers.

"Yeah, this was the guy who helped me find you, I was walking with him, not knowing where we were going, and I just saw you, and shouted" Max clarifies.

'Wow, that was nice of him to go out of his way to help Max, he seems like a nice guy. Max has accepted them too, so thats helpful'.

"well then, thanks for helping us, would you like to join us?" May asks Ash, hoping that the new face can be helpful and fun to the adventure.

"It'd be my pleasure, thanks." Ash replies.

As the afternoon sun slowly sets, the three make their way to the outskirts of Odale Town.

"Hey we are back here" The Siblings say simultaniously.

"Wheres this? Anywhere special?" Ash asks the pair.

'Oldale town, the town where the travelling begins' Ash reads from a wooden sign.

'Hmm, where the journey begins? so, there must be a bigger gap between towns now, maybe we should prepare, and leave tomorrow... wait, im in a group now, i need to tell May and Max, and Pikachu too of course,hopefully things will be easier with friends' Ash thinks hoping for the best out of his journey.

After reading the sign of Odale town, Ash notices a pokemon centre, with the bright red roof, it isnt hard to miss either. Also on this small town, theres a shop, which at a longer look,has pokemon items as shown in posters on the glass.

"So guys, what we gonna do? Travel now, or early tomorrow?" Max asks, thinking the others had an answer.

"Well, we could get an earlier start,but we can travel all day tomorrow,and less chances of camping out... What do you think Ash?"May turns to look at him, expecting an answer, but stays silent when no answer appears out of the boys mouth.

'Is he ok? why has he gone quiet... Not as entertaining as i thought' The girl decides, concluding Ash isnt who she thought he is 'Thats too bad, he seemed like a really good guy, and cute too..'. A blush appears on her cheeks as she realised what she thought.

"... and thats all i think really,May? Maaayy...earth to May... cmon already." Ash says to her, waving his hand infront of her face.

She finally escapes her daze, realising how close Ash is to her, and takes a quick step back, with the red on her face getting brighter, she looks down trying to hide it.

"So, what do you think? You didnt say anything"Ash says looking at her.

"oh, erm, well, I was thinking to start now, and definetly get there tomorow, its Petalburg city after thi-" May suddenly stops speaking. She shares a look with Max, and there is an akward silence.

"Whats up? Whats wrong with Petalburg city?" Ash asks curiously.

After the decision of walking on, past Odale town, sunset is clearly here. And yawns from the trio are occasionally heard, and even though 20 minutes have past since Ash asked the question, there was no reply for him, and his mind was let to wander.

'Petalburg... what will happen, is something wrong with them in that city? Its a shame i don't know enough...I cant help. But i wonder.. is Petalburg city something i should be worried about too?'

"So Max, May, are we gonna camp out? If we are, we should start to set up before its too dark". Ash advises, hoping for a reply from his travelling companions.

"Sounds good, lets stop here, while the suns not too far down yet" May agrees.

So the trio set up their sleeping bags, Max on Mays's left, and Ash has placed his sleeping bag on Mays right, sticking together for their first night in a forest.

Its now approaching dark and the group start talking about pokemon.

"So tomorrow, im gonna try and catch another pokemon, pikachu wont be enough against gym leaders, ready for a battle tomorrow pikachu?" Ash asks his starter.

"Pikachu is an electric type, isnt he?" May asks, intrueged about Ash.

"Yeah, what difference does that make?" Ash answers, wondering what May is saying 'whats wrong with electric types?' He thinks to himself.

"Well, I heard, in each region, you get a grass, fire, or water type, so why are you starting with a pikachu?" May continues, prying for more information from the male trainer.

"Oh, haha, I overslept this morning, so I took what I could, but im glad I did, me and pikachu are getting on well". Ash replies.

"Oh wow, your really special then, arn't you Ash." May giggles. Then blushes madly at how her sentence came out.

Ash was no exception, a blush appears on his face after Mays compliment. "Th-Thanks I guess, sleeping has its benifits." Ash says, joining in with the laughter.

"Oh, Max is asleep, a hectic day for us today though, thats why we we didnt look excited to go to Petalburg city." May says, looking at Max with a sad expression.

Ask scoots closer to May, so they can talk without waking up the younger boy.

"Well, I went to get my pokemon, and Max wanted to come with me on my journey, as he will be getting his starter pokemon next year. And he ran away, so we are in trouble when we get home.." May says, staring at the ground. She was clearly upset.

"Is there anything I can do to help you? I just met you two earlier, but id like to be good friends and travel together, there arnt any problems between us. Its a shame things might end tomorrow.." Ash replies, hoping for a better outcome of this situation.

"I dont think so, theres no point in getting you involved, but thanks anyway Ash, I appreciate it" May answers, whilst thinking of something good that could happen tomorrow, at the moment, tomorrow seemed like something that would just cause problems.

As the darkness continues to shroud around the sky, night is still here, nothing is changing, exept with the light of the stars twinkling overhead, showing some of the many constellations.

"Hey, look at all the stars, theres gotta be thousands up there!" Ash states to his friend.

As the two gaze up into the sky.

"Well, scientifically, theres over 100 thousand, millions maybe" Says a new voice, known to their youngest group member, Max.

"Oh hey Max, did we wake you?" May asks, with a sad smile on her face, not wanting to wake her younger brother.

"Yeah its no problem, we get to have a group moment though right? You two cant spend every moment just you two" Max replies with a snicker.

"W-whats that mean max, its not our fault you fell asleep" May argues.

'Why does he have to make things akward, or say anything like that, why did he have to be annoying now of all times!' May thinks to herself.

"Well, I have an idea" Ash interupts. " Why dont you and I battle May? We need some practice, in the morning after breakfast?"

"Yeah, and i'll be the referee!" Max adds excitedly.

"Sure Ash sounds fun, I hope your pikachu is prepared, we will blow you away!" May says, with a friendly tone to her voice, as its no official battle, and against her friend.

"You wish, pikachu will win this" Ash says, punching the air infront of him to make his point.

The trio laugh and decide to try and get some sleep, anticipating what tomorrow may bring.


	4. Battle With A Hint Of Trouble

Hey guys, thanks to the people who are reviewing, and thanks for the positive comments!

Well, here is the fourth chapter... enjoy!

Chapter 4 - Battle with a hint of trouble.

A light clear sky, with small hints of Dark blue, showing a very early morning, the birds were chirping, rare clouds. The ground was slightly wet with dew and was at a reasonable temperature, with the sun slowly moving up into the sky, showing that the day would be good for their first day travelling.

Max was the first to wake. He checks the fire, which has been out for a long time, and looks around at the surroundings.

'That was fun, our first camp out, it was interesting, but, was that the last time for me?' Max looks away, clenching his fists, sad about how things may end.

YYYAAAAWWWNNN

" Oh, good morning Ash, how are you and pikachu?" Max asks.

'Oh, day two of our adventure, that wasnt that bad camping out. Looks like Max was already up.' Ash thought to himself.

"S'up max, I slept well, and I think you did to, huh Pikachu?" Ash says, looking at his partner, just waking up from his slumber.

" Thats good, I hope your ready for your battle today" Max tells him, hoping for an interesting battle.

"Yeah, ill give it my best, don't wanna lose first time, pikachu and I need the experience of winning the battle" Ash replies, showing what his plan is.

"Well, that makes sense, but losing can help if it teaches something" Max responds.

"True point, thats good then, the result wont matte-"

"Hey you two, good morning." May says the the talking pair, slowly stepping out of her sleeping bag.

"Oh, hi May, sleep well?" Ash asks.

"Oh, hehe, yeah, really well, thanks for asking." May lies, she was worrying about today, meeting her parents.

Once the group start packing their items into their respective bags, they leave them to the side of the clearing from the forsest they slept at, making space for the first battle in their journey.

"This is gonna be good.." Max says excitedly." The pokemon battle between May from Petalburg city, and Ash from Pallet Town will now begin. The battle is a 1 vs 1, the battle will be over when one of the sides will be unable to continue."

"Wow, Max that was good, you know a lot" Ash tells him, impressed at the introduction to the battle, wondering how much knoledge Max had on pokemon battles.

"He used to be the sub-ref at our dads gym just incase, he knows what to say" May giggles."But anyway, torchic, take the stage!" May exclaims as torchic is released from her thrown pokeball.

Ash points to the battle field. "Pikachu, I choose you!" He states as his pokemon jumps from the sidelines to the battlefield, taking his battle position.

"Begin!" Max says.

"Hmm, pikachu, what moves do you know.." Ash thought outloud.

"I checked my pokedex earlier, im ready. Torchic, peck attack!" She commands.

Torchic closes the gap between the two battlers, and the beak glows white.

' A glowing beak, is that peck?' Ash thought. 'Uh-oh'

"Pikachu, dodge it!" He quickly responds.

Pikachu escapes harm as he runs to the opposite side of the clearing, getting some distance between it and Torchic.

Ash pulls out his pokedex. ' Hmm, it seems like it has tackle and thundershock, lets do this' Ash thought as he places his pokedex back into his back pocket. ' I have an idea, this might just work..'.

"Now Pikachu, use Tackle!" Ash commands, wanting to do somedamage to Mays pokemon.

"Torchic, scratch, right now!"May responds, just as eager to claim victory.

As the pokemon get into close range with eachother..

"Pikachu, thundershock, now!" Ash states, knowing his plan has worked.

And indeed it did, a direct hit of the electric attack hit torchic from close range.

'Oh no, pikachu has the upperhand, it cant end like this' May thought, trying to think of a way to win.

"Hang in there torchic, we can still do this." May encourages as torchic gets into its battle stance once again.

"Tackle!"

"Peck!"

Both trainers yell, trying to get some damage onto the other.

After contact, they have both taken some considerable damage, but with the earlier thundershock, torchic failed to stand back up. Once pikachu stood, the battle had been decided.

"And thats it! Torchic is unable to win, Ash takes the victory!" Max concludes

"Great job pikachu" Ash cheers in victory. "We won our first battle"

Ash runs up to pikachu and scoops him up in a huge hug, which pikachu deserved after his first win.

However, on the other side of the battlefield..

"No torchic.." May says. "I guess we lost this time.. you were great though, take a good rest, return" May recalls torchic into her pokeball.

"Great battle both of you, lets go to petalburg city, and get to the pokemon centre" Max advises.

'I guess Max has accepted theres nothing we can do, either way we will be in trouble with our parents..' The older sibling thought.

"Hey, things will get better, trust me" Ash almost whispers, remembering about the conversation the pair had late last night.

Max walks ahead of the pair. Not knowing they had slowed their walking pace.

"How can you be so sure things will get better? You haven't met my parents.." May trailes off quetly.

Ash tries to comfort the girl, and grasps her hand into his.

"Your right" Ash states. "I don't know your parents. But I think we will still be travelling after this, because if I don't ill just be waiting in town for you to re-join me" .

Ash gives a reassuring smile, whislt still holding her hand. He squeezed her hand a little bit tighter, and she turned to him. And when she looked at him...

She knew things will be ok.

Because she met him.

As they break apart, they decide catch up to Max and keep travelling to Petalburg city.

After walking through the forest, Petalburg City has appeared, about just under half a mile away.

"Well Max, lets go.." May says, whilst showing Ash the direction of the house/gym.

Slowly, walking through a few streets and passing shop windows, they make it to their destination.

"Petalburg City Gym - Fight for the balance badge" Ash reads aloud." So, ill eventually have to fight your dad huh? That would be interesting"

May knocks on the door. A few moments of silents. Then the steps could be heard, approaching the door. Then, the door opens, revealing Carroline.

"Hey mum, I got my starter pokemon, its torchic, isnt it great" May starts happy, but slowly goes silent to the angry look on her mothers face.

"Ash, take torchic with you to the pokemon centre, I dont want any of you here in this situation, its unfair." She hugs him, and passes torchics pokeball into their intertwined hands. And her eyes start to water. "I hope this isnt our final goodbye Ash, if it is, ill meet you again" She promises, remembering what Ash said earlier. As she lets go, she see's the sad smile on his face too. "Goodbye May..".

May goes inside, to follow her mother. So now its just the two boys standing at the front of the doorway.

"Hey Max, if I dont see you, id like to meet you in the Hoenn league, and battle you in the finals ok? If its good news, ill be waiting for you in the pokemon centre, ill see you soon." Ash says as he exchanges goodbyes with him.

"Bye Ash, I hope to see you in an hour or two.. but if not, thanks for everything, helping me find my sister, camping in the woods, watching a cool pokemon battle, it was a short but great time, ill see you soon Ash," Max says as he enters the house after may, not before recieving a hi-five from Ash though.

And so, the group seperate ways, Ash departs to the pokemon centre, and the Maple siblings enter the hands of fate to see what happens next.

When he enters the clear automatic doors, he see's a variety of trainers sitting on chairs and sofa's in a room with a huge tv, that shows live pokemon battles around hoenn. Right now, the Hoenn league is about to take place, and is showing stats of trainers entering. Also, directly ahead of him was a desk, where Nurse Joy was sitting, with her Chansey.

"Hello." Ash says, starting the conversation with himself and Nurse Joy.

"Oh, hello, im Nurse Joy, I heal your injured pokemon, if you need anything, just ask, we have food, rooms for travellers and a training ground out the back, through the door on your left, past the trainers lounge." She informs the boy.

"Well, Nurse Joy, could you heal these pokemon fo me? Pikachu is mine and the Torchic belongs to a girl named May Maple, if she comes to collect it." He asks, letting the nurse cure their pokemon from the previous battle.

'I hope you two come back here, once pikachu is fixed, im going to catch another pokemon, Gary probably has one badge already, im still stuck with my one pokemon.. Ive gotta catch up to him..I need my friends support to help me improve though, please walk through those doors..' Ash thinks to himself, staring at the glass automatic doors, waiting for May and Max to return.

And half an hour...

"Ah, there you are, I found you Ash." A random voice says.

" Your Pikachu is feeling alot better now, it only had minor injuries." The voice states to the boy.

"Hey, pikachu, you feel better now? Thats good, thankyou Nurse Joy" Ash says, smiling appreciatively.

"Im going to catch a pokemon! Look out, here comes Ash Ketchum!" Ash calls, throwing the victory sign whilst running out the doors of the pokemon centre.

In Petalburg Woods..

"So pikachu, lets catch that one, its a.. erm.. lets see what the pokedex says." Ask tells pikachu, whilst reaching for his red pokedex in his back pocket.

Although it is small, it is very courageous. It will take on a larger skarmory on an equal footing. However, its will weakens if it becomes hungry.

'It will fight a larger pokemon? Its very couragous, sounds like a good pokemon'' Ash says silently to himself. "You ready? Pikachu?"

"Pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu yells, readying him self for battle.

"Thundershock now!" Ash yells at his friend, starting the first attack of the battle.

Zap! Direct hit from thundershock.

But tailow, the very brave pokemon, stands his ground, and prepares to fight back in Petalburg woods.

"Glowing wings? Oh no, thats wing attack! Dodge pikachu, and use your tackle attack!" Ash commands, trying to beat the flying pokemon.

But to Ash's dismay, tailow fly's high, pikachu's tackle fails, making pikachu a target on the ground.

"Hmm, is that tackle? its moving too fast, that cant be..grr, pikachu!" Ash calls desperatly, as pikachu is hit from high in the sky from tailows unexpected fast tackle.

'Damn, if pikachu loses this... No! Losing isn't an option, cmon Ash, do this for your friends.. Max...

_I hope we can meet in the finals of the Hoenn league, ok?_

And May...

_This isn't our final goodbye, ill meet you again..._

His eyes widen in realisation.

'How could I be so stupid, May, thats it!'

"Pikachu, think back to torchic!" Ash commands, thinking about the previous battle.

After seeing pikachu's confused expression, Ash continues. "Our strategy?" Ash asks, hoping pikachu remembers.

After the lightbulb has gone on in his partners head, pikachu waits on the ground, waiting for his oponent. And on que, tailow soars low, trying to hit pikachu with his 'tackle' attack again.

"Go now, do it, hit him hard! Thunder shock!" Ash says, punching the air infront of him, for emphasis and part enthusiasm to the battle.

"Alright, lets do this.." Ash tells himself, getting out a pokeball, pressing the button, enlarging it to normal size. "One step, towards being a pokemon master" Ash continues, flipping his cap around, and getting into his throwing stance.

"POKEBALL, GO!" Ash shouts.

The ball is thrown. Tailow enters the capsule. It moves, then rolls. Still moving, the capture isn't done yet..

Ash stares intensly at the capsule, wondering if his first capture was a success.

Then, 'ding', the sound of a pokeball locking. Which means..

"Yeah, I caught a tailow!" Ash screams. "We did it, pikachu!"

After the first success, Ash returns to rest both taillow and pikachu.

Ash returns to the pokemon centre in the late evening. And heads to the desk, placing his partner and the newly caught pokemon on the tray, giving them to Nurse Joy for the night.

"Hey Nurse Joy, thanks for helping them for the nights rest they need" Ash thanks gratefully.

"It was no problem" Nurse Joy replies. "Oh, and that May girl came to pick up her torchic about 10 minutes ago, she looked quite upset."

"Oh ok, thanks again.." Ash trails off in to silence, walking into the trainers lounge.

'She was upset?' Ash's eyes widened. 'Oh no! They can't travel with me!' Ash thinks, clearly upset with the outcome of today.

'What should i do now...'

A/N Chapter 4 is finally done, I hope you enjoyed it, was it a good cliffhanger? Yes, no?

Did you enjoy this chaper? What could be improved? Tell me for next time so this story will get better :D


	5. What Happens Next?

Hoenn Is Where The Start Is!

Chapter 5 - What happens next?

After realising his friends may not be returning to him, he decides to focus on what to do next.

Should he wait for his new friends? Or journey ahead to catch up to Gary? All was to be decided in the next few mintues.

Who would walk through that door?

'Well, either way, it's getting late, I should go to sleep'. Ash thought to himself as the sky went even darker, near pitch black, exept for the small shining stars in the dark night sky.

However, sleeping is not as easy as it seems when there is a lot on your mind. And right now, there was alot on the mind of the new trainer.

The sun was just on the horizon, showing early morning, around 7am.

Ash woke up from his dreadful sleep, and walks out of his pokemon centre room, with his bag and room key.

Ash arrives to the desk of the pokemon centre, and returns the key to nurse Joy.

"Did you rest well?" Nurse Joy asks. "Your pokemon did, and have made a full recovery." She continues, as she hands him Pikachu, and a pokeball, which contained Ashs recent capture, tailow.

"Thanks very much." The boy said appreciating the nurse for helping his pokemon recover.

However, things were interesting a few blocks away, in the Petalburg gym. The four of the residence were awake, and sitting in the dining room, having an important discussion on what happens next.

"Ok, im sorry for running out.. I just really wanted to go." Max explains to his parents, still looking un-convinced and an annoyed expression on both their faces.

"Well, im not in the wrong here, I went on my journey, if Max just came with me; like he did, things were fine." May continues on Max's explanation, slowly tring to get out of the trouble they were in.

"Yeah, apart from we got lost, but Ash helped us find eachother!" Max concludes, ending the breif details of their journey so far.

"Ash?" Norman questions the pair. "Who is he?".

May thought for a moment.

Who was he? Just a guy she knew for a day who had a pikachu. He was nothing special. But to her, he was. He went out of his way to help a random stranger, whilst not even asking for anything else in return. He was a good, no.. great person to us.

A light red fills her cheecks. She was blushing.

How do I describe him?

"Well" May starts. "He..". May stops.

Caroline, who once had also had these feelings in her childhood, realised May may have feelings for this 'Ash', and sympathised towards her daughter.

"Your fine to continue your journey, but, im afraid Max will experience that later, its not his time yet, in 10 months, when it's his birthday, i'll allow him to go. But not now, sorry." Caroline ends, looking at the hurt expression on Max's face, feeling sorry.

But many parents have to make these decisions, and stand by them. It seemed that the young boy would not be travelling Hoenn just yet.

But at this time, there is a knock on the wooden front door of the Gym/house.

Norman goes to answer the door, with May trailing behind, curious as to if she knew the person, or it was a challenger for the balance badge.

"Hello, im looking for-" The figure asks, standing in the doorway. However, they get interrupted by some enthsausm from the gym leader.

"Ah, i'm Norman, the gym leader here, you want a battle, I presume." The man responds, waiting for a response from the challenger.

"ASH, your here!" May exclaims, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the house. "How have you been" She asks him. "Can I get you a drink?" She continues.

"Erm, Ive been okay, and no thanks, Im fine" Ash answers quickly, hopefully avoiding the bombardment of questions.

However, Norman just stands suprised at the doorway, then slowly closing the door, joining the other four currently in the dining room.

"Hows torchic? Feeling better?" Ash asks the girl currently holding his hand still after dragging him into the house.

"Yeah, thanks for taking it to the pokemon centre" May answers gratefully.

"Ah, your Ash, i'm thankful for your help for re-united them both." Caroline says to him.

"No problem, i'm glad I did, they are now good friends of mine" Ash says grinning, clearly showing his happy emotions.

"Well Ash, as you know, Max isn't 10 yet, so we are going to have him stay with us until then, sorry to say it but it can't be ruined for him before he even becomes a trainer. You can understand that, right?" The mother asks hopefully.

"No Ash, you don't understand, do you? You want me to come with you, tell her!" Max exclaims to the boy, as he knows its difficult for a parent to argue with a child thats not their own.

"Max.. you know I want you to come with us alot, it would be really great." Ash states, smiling lightly at the boy. "But.. I have to respect their decision on what they think is best for you. Im sorry, I can't help you out of this one." Ash finishes, with a frown now on his face.

As Max was about to speak, he gets interupted by Ash, who now had a grin on his face.

"Remember Max, you can't travel with me anyway. If we were to have that great battle when you become a trainer, you would know my tricks, so think up strategies whilst your here, and we will return for you, we will have an amazing battle, we promised right?"

"I guess thats true, I'll think of so many ways to win, that I will catch up in no time at all!" Max exclaims back, no longer thinking about being left behind.

As the day continues, almost into the afternoon, Caroline decides to make the trio some lunch, before Ash and her daughter depart on their journey.

The five in the house are eating the lunch, all with different thoughts in their heads, making the dinner silent as they all think about imprtant things that have changed, with Ash thinking about Max's battle, and complete different topics of Norman thinking about what Max could do the next 10 months he is at home.

But apart from the thoughts, not many things happened. Ash thanked them for the food and May and Max stood up from the table, with Ash following close behind.

The three enter the living room. Knowing what happens now.

"Well, Max, I will see you in 10 months, i'll be a lot stronger for the next time we meet" Ash tells the younger boy.

"Thats great, good luck" Max replies as the duo shake hands, and Ash then becomes quiet, and silence echoes the room, waiting for the siblings to say their goodbyes.

"Max, i'll become a great pokemon trainer just you watch!" May says with enthusiam, punching the air to show it.

Max smiles sadly.

"You two should get going." Max says, watching Ash head for the door, and waiting by it.

May has left the room, saying goodbye to her parents, and joining Ash by the door.

"Well, this is it, bye" May says, opening the door, leaving the house to start a journey, for the second time. But this time, things will be okay.

"Seeya" Ash adds in, giving a small wave before joining May, walking on her right side.

The pair walk into the pokemon centre, to plan out what they should do next.

They go to sit in the trainers lounge, and May places a map of Hoenn onto the small table.

"We are here at the moment" May tells Ash whilst pointing to Petalburg city. "The first city with a gym is in Rustboro city, where you can get a gym badge". Moving her hand to show the location of Rustboro City on the map.

"Thats great, can we go there first?" Ash replies. " We want to get that first badge as soon as we can. Right, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" The yelow pokemon answers, expressing the same levels of courage as its trainer.

"Guess theres no chance of changing your mind is there" May giggles. " Then we will head to Rustburo. Then, there is also a pokemon contest there, so ill compete in that, whilst you get your badge".

"Contest?" Ash asks confused.

May explains what a pokemon contest is to the Kanto native, and then they head to the PokeMart, to buy items, such as pokemon food, and Ash a map for himself, as well as getting some food to last them the next few days when travelling between towns.

The PokeMart isn't a huge store, it is a small shop that is in the majority of towns to help out travelling trainers with the essential items they need. It consists of a cashier, a few isles of stock, and a few trainers looking at the different items, preparing themselves for the different road ahead of them.

Ash heads to the cashier to buy his items, and as he pays, he leaves through the glass automatic doors and meets May, waiting patiently outside.

"You ready?" May asks excitedly, grabbing his hand, not waiting for an answer. "Then lets go!"

The pair dash outside the city area, and start to the 4th town of their journey.

"Next stop, Rustboro city!"

A/N: So Max is left behind, but the pair continue on, what will happen between the two?

Keep reading to find out. Thanks for reading!


	6. Advance

Hoenn Is Where The Start Is

Chapter 6 - Ash and May Begin.

Last time, Caroline and Norman decided that Max would stay at home, but were happy for him to rejoin Ash and May at the start of his journey. So, Ash and May split with Max and the duo head forward, heading to the next city, where Ash will fight for a badge, and May, who will be partipating for a ribbon.

It was late morning and the duo had been walking for an hour or so. Small talk being exchanged, trying to get to know eachother a bit more.

"So when did you decide you wanted to become a co-ordinator?" Ash asks curiously.

"Well, when I was watching Wallace on T.V I saw his performance with Milotic, and it inspired me to show off the beuty in the pokemon, rather than showing them by pure strategy and power." May tells him.

"Don't you need more than 1 pokemon to participate?" Ash asks. "Thats what you told me a while back anyway".

Mays eyes widened slightly. Two pokemon were the best option. One in the appeals round, and another in the battle rounds.

"Yeah, so I have my Torchic at the moment, and ill need to catch another pokemon, lets go!" May replies with enthusiasm, moving her hand, and pointing to a direction away from their path, to try and find a second pokemon to add to her arsenal.

"Alright then, im going to train my pokemon, I've got a badge to get." Ash says.

Ash calls Tailow from its pokeball, whilst pikachu jumps from his shoulder, preparing for its training session.

"Lets get stronger in what we already have. Tailow, use quick attack!"

Tailow flies high, and soars down quickly with a white trail behind it, indicating its speed.

The attack hits the leaves on a close-by tree and causes the tree to rustle and many leaves to fall.

The rest of Ash's training session continues like this, eventually making the moves of his pokemon stronger, whilst trying to use them in different ways to make plans to get out of different situations. After all, what can a trainer expect in their first ever gym battle.

May was away from Ash, in another area of the field, in the grass, trying to find a second pokemon to try and capture.

An Eevee had entered her line of sight.

"Hey Ash. Over here!" She yells to the boy. Motioning him to come over, to witness her first capture.

"Whats up May?" Ash asks the Hoenn native. But then spots the little brown pokemon.

Ash pulls his pokedex from his back pocket, and scans the pokemon.

Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. Depending on circumstances, Eevee can evolve into many forms.

"The evolution pokemon? That could be useful" May thought aloud.

"Good luck" Ash says, slowly backing away a few steps, to give some space for the battle.

"Thanks Ash." May says, then winking at him. "But I don't need luck".

The wink makes Ash's face go redder, the colour spreading on his cheeks.

'Why do I keep feeling like this when she does stuff like that. Do I like her?' Ash thought to himself, then thinking of something else, to try and return his face to its normal, slightly tanned, colour.

Luckily for him though, she had her own thoughts to focus on.

'Why did I do that? Why did he blush? Oh, maybe he li-' She interruptes her thoughts. 'No! I have to focus on capturing this Eevee.'

"Torchic! Its time to take the stage!" She calls as she throws the pokeball into the air, releasing the fire chicken pokemon.

Torchic was ready to battle, whilst Eevee wasn't prepared to take on the fire type.

"Torchic, ember!" May commands, telling the pokemon to start the battle.

The fire attack hits the unaware eevee, and does a lot of damage to the normal type.

Eevee seems annoyed by the suprise attack, and charges in on torchic with a tackle attack.

"May, do something!" Ash calls out to her from the sidelines.

"Oh, right." She responds. "Torchic, use peck attack!"

Torchics beak glows white, and the incoming eevee collides it, causing more damage to the evolution pokemon.

"Alright!" May grabs a pokeball. She throws it towards the weakened eevee. The pokeball engulfs the pokemon and rattles on the floor for a few moments.

The pokeball locks.

"I did it!" May cheers. "I caught Eevee."

May picks up the pokeball and places it on a pokeball holder on the belt. Then returning torchic to its pokeball then doing the same.

"Nice job May, now you have two pokemon too" Ash states, happy that her first capture was a success.

"Oh yeah, you caught a tailow whilst me and Max were at home. I forgot." May giggles akwardly.

She wraps her arms around the boy in a friendly hug, which Ash returns.

"Congratulations" She says to him quietly, whilst the hug gets more developed. An onlooker would definetly say the pair were a couple. But the duo didn't worry

about that. Their minds were too focused on the moment.

She places her head on his shoulder. And Ash pulls her closer to him, with almost no distance between them both. She looks at his face, his messy raven black hair, his friendly brown eyes.

He looks down at her, and smiles.

A smile of comfort, safety, and _love_.

Mays heart almost skipped a beat as she felt his warm breath on her neck.

She lifts her head slowly from his shoulder, and her eyes flicker closed.

Ash follows sub-conciously, with his eyes now closed too and lips slightly apart.

Their bodies slowly coming closer together, until..

Their lips meet.

Their first kiss...

The feeling was amazing for them both, a feeling of pure comfort, excitement and instinct. So many words to try and describe the most complicated feeling, which they both felt right then...

Love.

The kiss didn't last long, maybe 3 seconds. But to them, it felt a lot longer.

The two split apart, and they left eachothers arms, with intense blush's on their face.

'I can't believe that just happened. And it felt right. I know I have feelings for him, but is this the right moment?' May thought to herself.

Ash then gave a reassuring smile to her, to show that he wasn't shocked or upset about the event that just happened, and put out a hand for her to take.

She took his hand and smiled back, showing that she was happy how things turned out. And the two walked further down the path.

However, nothing was said between the two. Both were thinking of something to say, but what could be said after that situation.

'Where do we go from here' They both wondered.

As they continue walking in the comfortable silence. The pair begin to notice the ammount of tree's beggining to appear around the path way, and that the path was becoming less visible.

"Oh, this must be Petalburg woods. On the other side of this is Rustburo city." She informs to Ash.

"Oh right, this is the forest between them on the map. I remember now." Ash recalls, thinking back to the pokemon centre. "I think we should camp in there. I doubt we would get out by night-time. And if we stayed up all night, we would be too tired".

"Ok then, lets do that." May says as she tugs his hand. "C'mon, at least walk faster Ash, don't want you to get left behind after all." May continued as she laughed at Ash pouting, clearly pretending to be sad.

"Aw. Ash-y, you have such a cute pout-y face" May says mockingly, with no seriousness, and started to laugh

Well, at least that got Ash's pouting to stop, as a smile was slowly emerging on his face, then joining May in the laughter.

After that, the couple continued to walk further into the forest, reducing the distance as much as posible between them and Rustboro city before they sleep.

However, time and energy were both not on their side, as the walking speed had slowed a lot and the light from the sun was becoming less and less, and there would be hardly anytime before the sky was dark.

"Hey Ash, lets stop here, its getting dark soon, and im tired.." May explains, persuading the boy to rest here for the night.

Of course, he was more than willing to stop, as his legs felt like they would collapse at any moment.

"Sure, lets stop here." Ash agree's.

May sits on the ground. Then slowly pulls her sleeping bag from her travelling bag, and rolls it out next to Ash's.

Pikachu lay asleep at the bottom of Ash's sleeping bag, restoring its energy for tomorrow.

Ash lays in his sleeping bag, and puts his hands behind his head, using them as a pillow whilst gazing up at the stars that are not blocked by the tree's.

May, on the other hand, was in her sleeping bag facing away from the Kanto native.

'What happens now? We didn't speak at all. I wish we didn't kiss if we aren't going to speak.'

She turns over in her sleeping bag to face the boy.

"Hey Ash?" She says, trying to get the attention of her travelling partner, and - now obvious - crush.

Ash turns to face her, waiting for her to continue speaking.

"You know, after what happened earlier.. what happens now?" She asks him, curious on what he thinks after the kiss.

"What happens next? We go to Rustburo." Ash says to her.

May sighs. After the kiss they shared, all he is thinking about is the journey.

"No Ash, I mean about the ki-" May says, but interupted by the male trainer.

"I know what you were talking about, the kiss..." Ash trailes off. " But right now, i've been through a lot over the last few days, especially today. So, let me think it all over, and we will see what happens, but for now, lets continue together in the morning and go to Rustboro city. Does that sound ok?" Ash continued on, explaining his thoughts on what has happened.

"Yeah sure, I understand. But remember its rude to keep a girl waiting." She says whilst giggling.

Ash joins in the laughter.

"Sure, ill keep that in mind." Ash replied.

And with the akward silence removed, they both focus on getting some sleep.

"Night May."

"Goodnight, Ash"

A/N : Well, here is a bit of romance for the advanceshippers out there, make sure to give feedback on what you like/dislike. Thanks for reading!


	7. Lets Go Rustburo!

Hoenn Is Where The Start Is!

Chapter 7 - Lets go! Rustboro!

The sun was in the sky, and the birds chirped in the tree's of Petalburg woods.

Both Ash and May had awoke from their sleep, and packing up their bags and continuing their journey towards Rustburo City.

The trek continued to the next town, and a certain boy had a lot on his mind.

'I know we are close now, and that I felt something during the kiss' Ash thought. ' But if it doesn't work, i'll be travelling around by myself. Is it worth just staying friends?'

However May had a different thought process of what was going on. She was less negative then Ash.

'I really like him, that kiss felt right. I wonder how he feels about me...'

The air was silent as they were both surrounded by many thoughts invading their minds, and many different consequences they could be taking. Both of them thinking thoroughly, and thinking of what to say when the time comes.

"A nice day, isn't it" Ash says to her, the first thing being said that day.

'Well, at least he is talking to me, that's a good start' The girl thought.

"Yeah" May replies "The sun is out and its not too cold"

After walking through the endless ammount of tree's, a path seems to appear slowly under their feet, and the ammount of tree's around them decrease. They have made it through Petalburg woods.

Not too far from Rustboro City.

The two were walking on a path, which they guessed leaded to their destination.

"Hey you two!" A voice yells from the right of them.

Ash and May turn simultaniously to look at who is calling.

There were two people looking at them, with grins on their faces.

"How about a tag battle? We want some practice!" One boy informed to them.

A tag battle? This would be an interesting battle.

'Whats a tag battle?' Ash thought.

"What is it?" May asks the two boys.

"Two trainers vs two trainers, one pokemon each." One of the boys answers. "Winner is the one who has defeated the other two pokemon."

Ash liked the idea of a battle. Another way to increase his skill and experience before the gym challenge.

"We accept!" Ash replies back.

"A-ash!?" May says suprised. He didn't even ask for her opinion on the battle.

"Great! The name's Brendan." The boy, now known as Brendan, calls. "This is my friend, Dennis."

"Im Ash" Ash says, introducing himself.

"And whats your name, cutie?" Brendan asks May, winking at her.

At that gesture, something changes inside of the Kanto trainer.

"I-it's May" She said, blushing at his actions.

'What is this feeling? Is it adrenaline?' Ash wondered. 'No, it doesn't feel the same.'

After a few more seconds of his curiosity.

'No way.. is it... jelousy?' Ash thought. 'Why would I get jelous?'

"Mudkip, battle stance!" Brendan says, launching his pokeball into the make-shift battlefield.

'Why would I be jelous of him and May?' Ash continues thinking.

"Eevee, take the stage!" May responds, throwing her pokeball, letting eevee appear.

'Is it because...' Ash ponders, trying to figure out the cause of his emotions.

"Shroomish, go!" Dennis exclaims, releasing shroomish to the battle.

'I like May!?' Ash realises, digging deep to find his hidden feelings.

But the emotional battle was saved for another time. Right now, he was needed in the tag-battle.

"Hurry up!" Brendan yells to the raven haired trainer.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash shouts.

Pikachu jumps from his friends shoulder, and standing next to eevee, its battle partner.

"Eevee" May yells. "Tackle shroomish!"

The normal type pokemon runs to Dennis' pokemon, but a pokemon comes between them.

"Keep your attention on me, beautiful" He says, flirting with May whilst mudkip runs between the shroomish and eevee.

"Water gun on eevee" Brendan instructs.

The water gun hits its target, sending eevee back, with some damage sustained.

"Eevee, use scratch!" May commands.

The evolution pokemon heads towards mudkip this time, keen to inflict some damage.

"Shroomish, intercept-" Dennis commands, but gets interupted by his teammate.

"The girl is mine" Brendan says. "Water gun, once more!"

And, almost like De ja vu, a jet of water was sent towards eevee.

"The girl isn't yours" Ash yells, finally making an appearance into the battle. "Pikachu, use thundershock!"

'Ash?' May thought, while a red was slowly emerging on her face, and rapidly increasing, after realising why he was doing it.

He was annoyed that she would be with another boy.

She smiled at her realisation, she knew a lot about romance.

He had feelings for her.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield the super- effective attack hit its mark, and caused major damage to the water type.

The damage marks covered the pokemon as it tried to stand up.

"Pikachu, show him all your power" Ash commands. "Lets try something new!"

"Thunderbolt!" Ash yells, calling on pikachu using an electric attack stronger than his shock.

Electric crackles from the red pouches, and soon, there was a beam of electricity engulfing pikachu, then sent directly towards mudkip.

The shock hit, and mudkip sustained too much damage.

Mudkip was out. No basic water pokemon could endure that ammount of damage.

Brendan was out.

And he wasn't happy.

"Stay out of it Ash!" Brendan yells. "I said this was between me and May."

"Its a tag battle" Ash says calmly, trying to regain his composure. "Her battle is my battle."

"Speaking of battle" May interupts the arguing duo, then looking into the eyes of her next oponent. "Eevee, tackle attack!"

Eevee runs at a faster speed and hits shroomish with a direct hit.

'Pikachu can't use its electric attacks whilst eevee is close to shroomish.' Ash thought.

After the attack, eevee ran back, clearing some space so it has time to evade shromish's moves.

"Shroomish, use your own tackle attack!" Dennis yells.

"Hey May, ill add double the power." Ash tells her, hoping she would catch on to what he meant.

Dennis and Brendan were currently clueless about how a pikachu can add power to a tackle attack. But May understood, and nodded in acknoledgement.

"Eevee!" May yells.

"Pikachu!" Ash exclaims.

"Double tackle attack!" They both command.

The two pokemon do as instructed and charge for the incoming pokemon.

But with two tackle attacks, came twice the power. Shroomish got hit back, digging in its feet to not lose its balance, yet everyone could tell damage had been taken.

"Eevee, follow up with scratch!" May says.

"Pikachu, run behind Mays Eevee" Ash says, clearly planning something.

'I don't know what your planning Ash, but im trusting you. Ill give you space after my attack.' May spoke silently to herself, thinking what Ash has up his sleeve.

"Evade!" Dennis yells.

Shroomish dodged Eevees attack by side-stepping a few times, with made Eevee run past, doing no damage.

"Nice work shroomish" Dennis praises.

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!" Ash commands quickly, as pikachu was also running towards shroomish.

But this time, there was no time for shroomish to move,and tried to endure the damage.

But to no success, the damage was too much.

The second pokemon had been defeated.

Ash and May won!

A huge grin had appeared on Ash's face, and May also had a smile on hers.

"We won" They both say in unision.

Dennis had scooped up his pokemon, and walked to the pokemon centre.

Brendan scowled at Ash, then joined his friend to heal his pokemon.

"That was a good battle May, unlucky at the end though." Ash says to her.

"Battling isn't my thing, its yours." She said, giggling at the boy. "I prefer showing off my pokemon, like in our co-ordinated attacks."

"Either way, we won." He replies, then turning to his starter. "You did great Pikachu, lets get you to the pokemon centre, its not far now."

"You too eevee, take a nice long rest." May says, praising her pokemon on its first battle, then recalling it to its pokeball.

'During that battle. I realised something.' Ash thought to himself, re-thinking his feelings about May Maple. ' I think I really do like her.'

"Well, Rustboro City is really close." Ash guessed. "Shall we?" He continued as he put his hand out for her to take.

"We shall." She replied, laughing slightly, and placing her hand in his as they finally entered Rustboro City.

A/N: Im not sure if this chapter was as good as it could be. But it was difficult to find words for what I was trying to explain. Anyway, i hope you enjoyed reading Chapter 7!


	8. Battle for the badge

Hoenn Is Where The Start Is!

Chapter 8

Battle For The Badge!

The duo had entered Rustboro City, and headed for the town square.

"I have two pokemon, im ready for a gym battle!" Ash yells excitedly, wanting to get his first ever badge.

Ash had also needed to enter for the Hoenn league and May who will be aiming for the grand festival needs to register for the contest circuit.

"Lets go to the pokemon centre, I need to make a call" Ash says.

May agree's and heads to the building with the red roof and the signature sign on the front of the structure with read 'Pokemon Centre'.

They walked in and were greeted by Nurse Joy.

The pokemon centre layout is the same over all locations, to allow the trainers to feel comfortable knowing where everything is. It had the ussual desk at which Nurse Joy sat with chansey, and the trainers lounge elsewhere, along with the phones and the rooms for travellers.

Ash makes his way over to a green phone booth and sits down, then pressing buttons on the machine, entering a phone number. After waiting a few moments, the Kanto native took the phone on the holder and placed it to his ear, then facing a screen which was embed into the green booth.

A figure appeared on the screen. One which May didn't recognise.

"Ah, hello Ash" The man greeted. "How are you and pikachu?"

Ashs face lights up.

"Hey proffessor!" Ash replied cheerfully. " Pikachu and I are getting on really well, we are getting our first gym badge today."

"Good luck Ash" Pr. Oak responds. "Gary has just won his second, and is heading to Cerulean City as we speak to get his third."

Ashs face went from happy to concern.

'Almost three badges? He must be working really hard.' Ash thought.

Would Ash be able to catch up? Would he be able to over-take his current rival? Time will tell.

"Oh, then I gotta go!" Ash says quickly. "Say hi to my mother for me professor, bye!"

Ash hung up the phone.

The pair start to walk up to the main desk.

"Who was that Ash?" May asks curiously.

"Professor Oak, he is the one who gives the starter pokemon in Kanto." Ash explains.

They reach the desk and see Nurse Joy smiling brightly as usual.

"How can I help today?" She asks politely.

"I'd like to register for the grand festival." May asks.

"Ah, good luck, just pass me your pokedex, and ill give you the admission card to the contests." Joy explains.

It took a few minutes. But after recieving May's information from the pokedex, she was ready to compete in the Rustboro contest. Joy also gave her a ribbon case.

The same principle happened again for Ash, he recieved his badge case and was given access to compete in the Hoenn league after he recieves 8 badges.

"You ready?" Ash asks his partner.

"Pika!" Pikachu replied with a nod, showing it's eagerness.

But would enthusiasm beat a gym leader?

"Lets go May!" Ash calls to his friend. "I've got a badge to win!"

"Sure" May replies quickly, suprised at Ashs quick outburst.

Ash runs out of the pokemon centre, and runs towards a building which looks like a pokemon gym, the building where Ash would get his first badge.

May follows the trainer, and heads towards the gym to support her friend.

The gym stood tall, with a rock type theme and two main, steel doors at the front with large handle's and a sign on the main wall next to the door, showing some information about the leader.

"Im here for a battle!" Ash yells to the building, waiting for a response.

"I accept." The voice replied calmly.

The doors opened, and a man was standing by the door, who had probably been the one who opened it.

"Hello" The man says. "Are you ready for the gym challenge"

"I am" Ash says, nodding confidently towards the man.

"I shall lead you the way towards the arena" He states.

He walks inside, heading towards the battle arena.

May looks to Ash, and the boy turns around.

"Good luck" She says.

"Right, lets go." Ash states.

The two exchange smiles, and then they follow the man inside.

After a short walk, they see an arena, with a few rocks randomly scatered around. There were two rectangle paint marks opositve, connected on a larger rectangle. These are the markings of the arena. The referee also had his own marked place to observe the battle.

The man heads to the referee part of the arena, while Ash heads to an adjacent side, staring across, waiting for the gym leader to make their appearance.

"So" The voice asks. "Whats your name?"

"Im Ash Ketchum" Ash replies. "From Pallet Town"

"Im Roxanne, the gym leader!" The leader responds, in a louder voice.

A door opens the other side of the building.

The gym leader, Roxanne, enters.

"Welcome to the gym, Ash" She says.

"Thanks." He replies quickly.

The referee looks at both participants.

"This battle will be a 2 vs 2 pokemon battle." The referee informs. "The winner will be victorious when the other has no pokemon that can continue. In addition, only the challenger can switch pokemon during the battle."

"Geodude!" Roxanne calls, throwing a pokeball into the air.

"Tailow, I choose you." Ash exclaims, launching the red and white sphere into the air.

Both pokemon materialised onto the field, and took a battle position.

"The challenger has the first move." The referee instructs. "Let the battle begin!"

The referee put both flags in the air, indicating the begining of the battle.

'Just like Max did...' Ash thought sadly. 'He wanted to be here so much'.

Ash grit his teeth.

"Tailow" Ash commands. "Use quick attack."

The bird pokemon bursts into life and heads towards the rock pokemon at a blinding speed.

"Defence curl" Roxanne counters.

Geodude protects himself with his arms, and tailow connects, but not a lot of damage seemed to be taken by the gym leaders pokemon.

"Our turn!" Roxanne exclaims. "Geodude, rollout."

Geodude starts spinning on the ground, before quickly rolling along the gym floor, heading for tailow.

"Tailow, fly high!" Ash quickly says, trying to evade the move.

"Fly aswell geodude!" Roxanne instructs.

"It can fly!?" May says, shocked at the skill the rock type pokemon may have.

Geodude understood its trainers comands. It continued to roll, but turned slightly, and hit a bump in the terrain.

However, this wasn't bad, for Roxanne anyway. Geodude had been launched into the air after hitting the rock floor.

It was heading straight for tailow.

Ashs eyes widened at the oponents move.

Geodude was technically flying, which caught Ash and tailow off-guard.

The hit was hard, and tailow went spiraling towards the ground, wincing in pain from the super effective attack.

However, it was still able to battle, and Roxanne realised this.

"Rollout, once more" She Commanded, and as soon as her pokemon landed, it repeated the same move.

'Tailow is down, it hasn't got enough time to get up..' Ash clenched his fists, waiting for the impact.

"Hang in there" Ash yells desperately. "Tailow!"

But, what Ash didn't know, is that rollouts power increases when it is used consecutively.

The rollout hit again. And tailow hit the wall behind Ash, with spirals in its eyes.

"Tailow is unable to battle." The referee says, informing the battlers of the outcome. "The winner is geodude."

"Tailow" Ash says quietly, whilst recalling his pokemon to its ball. "You did well, take a long rest.

However, Ashs words were comforting, but not true, tailow had done next to no damage towards geodude, and then it was unable to battle.

Ash only had one pokemon left.

Pikachu.

"Pikachu" Ash called. "I choose you."

Ash pointed to the battlefield. Pikachu ran on, preparing itself for the battle.

"Begin!" Shouted the referee.

"Pikachu, use tackle" Ash commands.

The mouse pokemon makes contact with the rock type, but again, not a lot of damage seemed to be taken.

"Geodude, rollout." Roxanne states calmly.

'Just another newbie, he needs to train a larger variety of attacks, and needs different pokemon.'

The rock pokemon hits hard, sending pikachu across the arena.

Pikachu hits the ground heavily, and had sustained major damage, after all, that was the third consecutive rollout.

Luckily, pikachu's determination was admirable, it stood back up with its cheeks sparking.

"Alright" Ash says. "Use thunderbolt!"

Electricity is emmited from pikachu, and is aimed towards the rock pokemon.

"Rock throw." The gym leader commands.

Geodude punched the ground, and rocks protected it from being hit by the electricity. It them picks up the rock and hurls it towards pikachu, was this the end?

"Pikachu, hit the rock head on with your tackle attack." Ash calls quickly, trying to gain the upperhand in the battle.

Pikachu picks up speed and destroys the rock, still heading for geodude.

Pikachu hits geodude with some damage, as well as dome extra damage from the small rocks the mouse pokemon seperated previously in the charge.

"Thunderbolt!" Ash yells. "Max power!"

Pikachu hits with the electric attack at point-blank range. And even a rock type would feel the damage.

Geodude was exhausted, even thought it had the upper hand, fighting two pokemon uses a lot of energy, and the combination from pikachu seemed a lot stronger than it expected.

Pikachu was breathing heavy, it had used a lot of energy in the combination. Breaking through the rocks had some recoil, and had been hit by a strong rollout.

All four members in the room were staring at the battlefield, seeing who would drop first.

"Geodude, stay strong." Roxanne says, hoping that geodude will be able to continue, and win the match.

"Pikachu, keep fighting!" May cheers from the sidelines.

"You can do it!" Ash yells. "Pikachu!"

After that, there was silence. But then..

Geodude fell.

"Geodude is unable to battl-" The referee states, before being interupted.

"No!" The voice echoes around the arena.

Ash had fallen to his knees...

Pikachu had also fallen.

"Both pokemon are unable to continue." The referee concludes

"Roxanne is the winner!"

A/N: Well thats the end. Like it? Hate it? Let me know ^^. Sorry for taking ages to upload- loads of exams and revision and stuff... if anything changes, its probably on my profile or something. Next chapter should be uploaded soon. Thanks for reading!

Oh and if there are any spelling/grammar mistakes, can you PM rather than review? Its easier for me to access the PM to then correct my mistake you messaged me about, and ill correct it.


	9. The Bad News

Hoenn Is Where The Start Is!

Chapter 9 - The Bad News.

Ash was devastated after his loss as he went back to the pokemon centre empty handed, without the gym badge. Pikachu and tailow had made a full recovery in the pokemon centre, and would be ready for their next encounter at the Rustboro City gym. But today was a new day, and it was Mays turn at trying to get a contest ribbon.

Ash and May were both awake, currently eating breakfast at a table in the pokemon centre.

As they were eating their food, May decides to ask the important question, one which Ash would answer when they got to town.

"Did you think about it?" May asks subtly to Ash.

"Yeah" Ash replies bluntly.

"And?" She responds, hoping to pry some information from him.

A smile appears on Ash's face.

"Well I-" Ash suddenly stops, and voices are heard inside his head; flashbacks.

"_Gary has his second gym badge, and is heading to Cerulean City for his third."_

Proffessor Oak's voice slowly trailes into silence, and a new voice is heard in his mind.

"_Pikachu is unable to battle, Roxanne is the winner!"_

Ash's eyes widened in realisation. The reason he came to Hoenn in the first place was to try and overtake Gary, and he still needs his first badge.

He was really far behind...

"May, Im sorry, but I don't want to go out with you" Ash says, looking down slightly, obviously not wanting to see her reaction.

Saying the girl was suprised would be an understatement, she was utterly shocked at what Ash had told her.

But she was also really upset, they seemed to link really well, and grew close rather quickly.

"Did that kiss not mean anything to you?" May asks sadly. "Not at all?"

Ash saw she was seriosuly upset, but what could he do? Having a relationship would just slow him down, and training needs to be his top priority, his match with Gary, his childhood rival, is just waiting to be won.

"Of course it did" Ash replies. "But Im not ready for a girlfriend right now, I have a lot of important things to do, but if your willing to wait until-"

"Im not waiting Ketchum." May says bluntly. "I have things to do too, I want to be a co-ordinator, and your here for the Hoenn league, lets see what happens."

'I guess that makes sense, if I get really serious about wanting a relationship, then i'll ask, but until then, we focus on why we are here, I can't just ask her out if its just a small crush.' Ash thought.

The food had been eaten a while ago, and they decide to leave their table and head to Rustboro cities contest hall, where May will try to recieve the Rustboro ribbon.

It hard to win after losing her confidence though, thanks to Ash rejecting her moments ago.

However, a trio were approaching the duo.

"Listen, is that a voice I here?" A feminine voice sang.

"Its speaking to me, loud and clear" A different voice continues.

"On the wind!"

"Past the stars!"

"In your ear" A less clear voice was heard, and it seemed less human also.

"Causing trouble at a break-neck pace"

"Dashing all hope and putting fear in its place!"

"A rose by any other name is just as sweet"

"But when everything is worse, our work is complete."

"Jessie" The female sung, informing her 'audience' of her name as she jumped out of the balloon they were in, to then stand infront of them

The women was wearing a white top, with a red R on it, and a short white skirt, which seemed to match the top, looking like a uniform, she also had pink hair in a long curl type style.

"James" The man, now known as James, introduced himself, then jumping to join his partners side.

He had short blue hair, and a similar uniform to the woman beside him, with white trousers and a long sleeved top with the letter R in red.

"And Meowth, thats a name!" The voice spoke , now realising it was a talking meowth, which was currently putting thier hot air balloon to the ground, and joined its trainers.

"Putting the do-gooders in thier place"

"Team Rocket" They all call together.

"In your face!" They all stuck a pose as their little motto ended, before looking at Ash and May. But mainly Ash.

"I like your pikachu, boy" James says to the trainer.

"Thanks?" Ash asks, confused at who these people are. "Your Team... Rocket?"

"Yes, we are the main criminal organisation in the Kanto region." Jessie informs him.

"Kanto.." Ash says quietly.

May looks to Ash, slightly confused as to why he acted strange when Kanto was mentioned, they are in Hoenn, why was it a problem?

"How dare you!" Ash shouts, yelling at the people who act badly in his homeland. "You'll pay for what you have done!"

However, Ash didn't know what they had done in the past, but a criminal organisation can never be good. They could also be scheming something, so either way Ash was being cautious.

"I don't think you should be talking off to us!" Jessie retaliates.

She throws a pokeball in the air.

"Seviper, lets go!"

The poison snake is released, and shows its large fangs and purple tail.

"Oh, a battle?" Ash asks retorically, then looking at his shoulder, smiling at the pokemon who currently took a perched position on it.

"Lets go pikachu!"

The mouse pokemon jumps from its position from Ashs shoulder, and gets on four legs, before glaring at its opponent.

But before Ash was about to call an attack.

"Want help?" May asks him.

Ash gives her a nod, indicating that he accepts the offer.

"Torchic." May yells, whilst tossing the pokeball into the air. "Take the stage!"

"Cacnea" James calls. "Let's go!"

It was a 2 vs 2, Ash and May were about to see the power that 'Team Rocket' have, hopefully their strongest pokemon could handle them.

"Lets go!" Ash says, starting off the battle. "Pikachu, use thunderbolt on seviper!"

The electric pokemon hits hard with its thunderbolt, causing quite a lot of damage to the seviper.

"Torchic, help him out!" May quickly adds in, trying to do consecutive attack damage. "Ember on Cacnea!"

Ember shot out of torchics beak and headed for the grass-cactus, however James had another idea.

"Pin missile!" James commands.

"Cacnea!" The pokemon calls, as it releases a multitude of missiles with a white light arround them, heading for the ember attack.

The two moves clashed, but the ember seemed more powerful, and overcame the missiles, before continuing its direction towards cacnea.

Cacnea took major damage from the super-effective attack, and Ash and May seemed to have the upper-hand.

"Seviper, poision tail" Jessie commanded.

Sevipers tail had a purple glow, and as it closed in and swung, it caused a considerable ammount of damage towards the electric mouse; pikachu.

"Pikachu, fight back!" Ash encourages. "Tackle attack!"

Pikachus determination, again showed no limits, it grit its teeth and caught up to the seviper who was trying to increase the range between the both.

That wasn't tackle.

"Its quick attack!" Ash quickly realised, as the move looked very simular to tailows.

The attack hits hard, that new move was the finnisher, seviper was defeated.

"Return" Jessie says angrily, annoyed that her pokemon was not strong enough.

"Torchic, use peck attack!" May commands, wanting to defeat the last remaining pokemon on the enemy team.

Torchics beak glowed a bright white, and began running towards the grass type oponent.

The attack hit. The second super effective attack to cacnea from the fire chicken.

"Pikachu!" Ash yells, wanting to defeat the enemies of the group who want to cause problems in his home region, Kanto. "End this with thunderbolt!"

"Pika-chuuuuu!" Pikachu yells as it unleashes its signature attack on team rocket.

The attack connects, and smoke appears around them, it was a chance.

"Lets go!" May advises Ash, indicating they should leave before they are spotted.

"Right." Ash says whilst nodding, before grabbing Mays wrist and running from the scene.

'A few days ago, he would've held my hand' May thought sadly. 'I guess he doesn't like me after all.

They head back towards the pokemon centre to recover, after the encounter with team rocket, before heading to the contest hall, which would be hosting the pokemon contest in the next hour.


	10. Take The Stage!

HIWTSI - Chapter 10!

A/N Really sorry about taking so long for the next chapter been really busy with summer GCSE's and stuff like that, but that's all over now and chapters should be up more frequently, hope you enjoy chapter 10!

* * *

Take The Stage.

With the encounter with Team Rocket behind them, Ash and May are in the Pokémon center, letting torchic recover slightly and May to focus and remove her nerves before her first appeal.

"C'mon May, you will be fine" Ash advises. "Calm down, you will be great!"

However, pokémon wasn't just the only thing on the coordinators mind. Ash was also taking up a large segment of her thinking space.

'First Ash doesn't want to be my boyfriend, and now he is being extremely nice' May thought to herself quietly. 'Is that just him being friendly? Or has he re-thought? I'm so confused…'

A small chirp brought May to reality. She had a pokémon contest to enter in shortly, she needed to focus on the contest.

Ash however, seemed to have disappeared. Maybe he walked to the hall to get a seat, maybe he didn't even care, hence why he didn't snap her from her thoughts before the contest started.

Either way, May needed to get to the hosting arena and win the ribbon, with or without Ash.

But the latter didn't seem to sound right in her mind.

May walks out of the center with her two pokémon: torchic and eevee.

It only takes them a few minutes to reach the contest hall, and May sits in the competitor seating area, where beyond a tunnel in the room, led to the performing arena.

"May Maple, please walk through the tunnel to the arena." A voice informs through the speakers on the walls. "Your appeal will start momentarily."

'Well'. She thought to herself. 'Here it goes…'

May walks through the small tunnel in the wall, and enters the arena.

A few cheers were heard from people being supportive and Ash in the stands.

The applause wasn't loud when she entered the stage, but no-one knew who she was, so they didn't know what to expect.

"Begin!" The commentator announces, signaling the beginning of Mays appeal.

"Eevee!" May exclaims while throwing a pokeball into the air. "Take the stage!"

Eevee materialized onto the field in a graceful style, hoping to look better in front of the judges.

"Start us off with quick attack" May commands.

Eevee starts to run at a faster speed and a white trail behind her appears (like the anime) from the speed of the normal Pokémon's run.

"That is quick!" Vivian, the commentator says, describing what she is seeing to the audience.

"Now" May instructs. "Use scratch like before!"

Eevee rotates its body and pulls up a paw, before scratching the air behind it.

The move hits the small trail of the air behind it, making a claw shape rip through the air current that Eevee created from the quick attack, making the scratch attack seem more powerful, showing of the strength of the normal type.

Eevee was limited due to having a small move-set, but it worked out okay. Now it was just the opinion of the three judges.

After a while all the competitors had shown their appeals to the judges, crowd and competition.

All the coordinators were waiting for the judges to make their decisions on who would make it to the battle round. They were all in small groups discussing who they thought was the best, and who they thought may not have made it.

All except May who was sitting by herself on one of the benches, holding her eevee in her arms, trying to comfort it.

"Don't worry" A voice said from behind the girl. "You did great; it was your first time after all."

The girl recognized that voice from anywhere, and smiled when she realized he was here.

"Ash" May gasped as she turned around to face him.

There he stood, the raven haired boy with the cap and pikachu.

"I would say you made it, the other performances weren't amazing" Ash said in a lower voice so the other competitors couldn't hear.

But even though some may think Ash was being spiteful, he was being truthful, the others were using first evolution starter pokemon and other basic pokemon like zigzagoon and shroomish, there weren't any sceptiles or beautiflies, May had a good chance at taking 1st place or a high position in this contest.

"Ok folks" The announcer spoke as she was preparing to call out the list of people who have made it to the battle rounds.

The first 4 names were called, and none were May.

May clenched her fists from nervousness, would she make one of the final 8?

Ash gave her a friendly smile and sat next to her on one of the benches.

"You're in, don't worry" The boy encourages confidently.

"How are you so confident at a time like this?" She asks the Kanto native.

"I've seen you train, and I've witnessed your determination to get this ribbon, I know you May, not for a long time, but we are friends, and I have noticed that when you put your heart into something, you will achieve it" Ash said softly.

May blushed slightly at the compliments and the belief her crush had in her.

'I'll make him proud too' May thought to herself. 'I will win this for Ash!'

"The sixth contestant in the battle round…" Mariam announced. "Is May!"

"Aha" May giggles happily. "I did it!"

She wraps her arms around the boy in excitement, not thinking of her actions.

"Great job" Ash says, moving his arms around the girl, joining in the embrace for a few moments, before letting go.

"Well then, I should head back to my seat" Ash concluded. "I've gotta watch you battle in the final round!"

"Right" May replied with confidence. "Just you watch Ash"

And so, the last two names were called and the battle rounds were preparing to get underway.

"And the final battle of the first round, Nicole VS May"

The two girls took their position on the opposite sides of the arena.

"Torchic" May calls whilst throwing a pokeball into the air "It's time to take the stage!"

"Treecko!" Nicole exclaimed, copying Mays actions and throwing the red and white sphere onto the battlefield.

Ash, up in the stands was watching the battle.

"A Treecko." Ash questioned nobody. "That looks cool; we should get one of those, pikachu!"

Ash gets out his pokedex and finds out that treecko is a grass type, torchic has the advantage.

"May, use a fire type attack!" Ash yelled from the stands.

Back in the arena, May just heard his words; she just caught the advice, realizing she had the upper hand already.

"Ready?" the commentator shouted. "Go!"

"Treecko, use tackle right now!" Nicole instructed.

"Torchic" May called quickly, trying to get its attention. "Ember"

Torchic aims at the incoming grass type, the closer it gets, the easier to hit.

Torchic's move hit successfully and caused significant damage to the grass gecko pokémon.

"Oh no, please get up" Nicole pleaded as the gecko struggled to its feet. "Pound!"

"Dodge now, torchic" May commanded.

Torchic evades the attack and Nicole's points decrease further.

"Our turn" May declared quickly. "Use your peck attack"

Torchic's beak glows white and the chicken pokemon runs towards the treecko.

"Now, jump treecko!" Nicole instructs, trying to get treecko to dodge the attack.

Treecko jumped into the air, dodging the peck attack successfully.

"Wait 'til it lands." May commanded. "Then use ember, full power"

Treecko fell to the ground and didn't have enough time to move out of the way from the flames, and took massive damage from the ember attack.

"Treecko cannot continue, and due to torchic still standing, May enters the next round!" Said the announcer, explaining what happens if a pokémon is unable to continue during a contest.

May left the battle arena and headed towards the seating area for the competitors, a few nodded and smiled in congratulations, whilst others just kept to themselves.

Multiple contest battles had taken place; some had won by taking their opponent's points to zero, and others had won by other methods, such as an opposing pokémon's defeat.

The last match of the semi-final had just finished. May was through into the next round after barely scraping through with a few points left after getting her opponents points to zero.

A boy had just walked into the seating area and heading in Mays direction.

"I'm Drew, the second winner of the semi-final." The boy, now named Drew, informed her.

"I'm May; it's a pleasure to meet you Drew" May said, introducing herself to the green haired boy. "Good luck in our battle"

"You too May" Drew replied, putting out a hand. "Let the best coordinator win"

"Don't worry, I intend to" She says and places her hand next to his and they shake hands.

They both share a competitive glare towards each other. Drew and May both crack a smile and then start laughing loudly, causing a few other coordinators in the room to look at them strangely, and then returning to what they were doing.

"Well, I'd better get going" Drew said politely whilst handing her a rose. "Seeya"

"B-bye" May replied nervously as a red blush was currently spreading on her face.

What they didn't know, was that there was an on-looker listening in on the entire conversation, from start to end.

"Well, she moved on, that's good" Ash said as he walks away from the arena.

* * *

A/N: Wow, Drew is here, there may be some rivalry for Ash, whats going on in Mays mind right now? Keep reading to find out.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

As another note, sorry if the structure seems hard to read, im trying to make it more presentale, but i can't seem to add spaces or hyphens, so sorry about that..

Anyway, what was good, what was bad? I need to know to make this story better :)


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